Special to WorldTribune.com Russian warplanes have attacked Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) positions near the ancient Syrian city of Plamyra. “Su-25 jets hit a fortified ISIL position in the Tadmur area of Homs province,” Russia’s defense ministry said, using the Arabic name for Palmyra, according to the AFP news agency. “As a result of a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Iran has confirmed it will join the United States, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in talks over Syria’s future. The five parties, all heavily invested in the outcome of the war and the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad, will meet on Oct. 30 in Vienna. Egypt and Iraq will also attend. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com U.S President Barack Obama is set to authorize “direct action on the ground” against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the change in strategy on Oct. 27. “We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russia announced a major escalation in its air campaign as troops from Syria, Hizbullah and Iran began an offensive aimed at anti-Assad regime rebels in Aleppo. Russia said it will increased the number of sorties its warplanes carry out to 300 per day and Moscow will also build a new runway to […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Iran has deployed hundreds of troops to back a Syrian ground offensive near the city of Aleppo, reports say. A senior U.S. defense official and Syrian activists said on Oct. 14 that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops had arrived in Latakia and were massing near Aleppo. The U.S. defense official said […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Vladimir Putin’s cult of personality has reached Iraq. Some of the nation’s Facebook users have even replaced their own profile photos with portraits of “Putin the Shi’ite.” “We should give Putin Iraqi and Syrian citizenship because he loves us more than our own politicians,” said Mohammed al-Bahadli, a student in the Iraqi […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russia escalated its military operations in Syria in a big way on Oct. 7 as it launched missiles from its warships in the Caspian Sea to support a ground offensive aimed at foes of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Moscow claimed the offensive targeted Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), but the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russia’s air strikes against anti-Assad regime rebels may have united Syrian rebel factions in a way the hesitant Obama administration never could. A group of 41 Syrian rebel factions, in a joint statement, condemned Moscow’s attacks on rebel targets and vowed to take the fight to the Russian “occupiers.” Backed by Russian […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Sisi called for “solidarity among all the peoples of the world,” in the fight against terrorism in his address on Sept. 28 to the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York. “Allow me to ask, how many Muslims must fall victim to this abominable extremism and odious […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Yossef Bodansky, Senior Editor, Global Information System / Defense & Foreign Affairs [Editor’s note: The following full-length report by Yossef Bodansky details Russia’s unambiguous response to the growing jihadist threat in Syria and the Middle East that has remarkably been aided and abetted at several junctures by Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia […]